Somethin' About Steph
by Starbucks3894
Summary: Another Carphanie one-shot! Whoopee! I loooooove Carphanie! :D Not my best work. I like my other one better, but I still put it up. It was a request. So I wrote it. Hopefully, it's not too painful. R&R!


**This is a request. My second one. I love Carphanie. :D So enjoy!  
**

He stepped out from behind the stage, having cooled down after their performance. He thought it had gone pretty well, for no OFFICIAL rehearsal. Only those pathetic dance introductions he had been given ONCE. So yeah, he was pretty darn proud of himself.

Before he could even look around for her, she flew up to him, a whirlwind of tropical smelling perfume nailing him in the face. She threw her arms around his neck, knocking the breath out of him, as he stood there, and hugged her back with everything in him.

"Steph!" he gasped, as she squeezed him hard.

"That was AMAZING! You were so great! I loved it! Me and Jo were almost dying!"

"Thanks! You really liked it?" he said, trying to pry her off gently.

"Are you KIDDING? Omigosh! It was incredible, incredible, incredible!"

"Stephanie!"

"Uh-huh?"

"I can't breathe..." he was struggling now, turning slightly blue.

"Oh! Sorry," she said, backing off a little, and brushing the front of his shirt down. She straightened his tie, and grinned at him. "Honestly Carlos, if you could sing any better I would faint like some stupid fan girl."

Instantly he got a picture of her fainting and him picking her up and carrying her away in his arms. It seemed very appealing. He shook his head a little to rid his mind of the thought. He wasn't gonna ruin this night by being too desperate. He would be cool.

Except, Carlos didn't do cool. He did fanatical crazy lunatic.

"NO! Don't turn into a fan girl! You're too great the way you are!"

"OK. Then I won't. But I will never stop loving your voice. It's just so cute," she said, pinching his cheeks.

"Ach! Don't do that! Too many people do it at home!"

"Fine. I just can't help it."

"It's a gift," he said, patting her hand, as she linked her arm through his. She smiled at him.

Geez, was it getting hot in there? He could really use some punch.

"To the punch bowl!" she exclaimed, reading his mind.

"The punch bowl!"

They drank all the punch they could hold. Then they both left to go to the bathroom. Human bladders could only hold so much.

Carlos was finding out that he would have a partner in craziness in Steph as long as they were together. Something about her... she made him feel so different than he ever had. Like she was a glass of ice water in the Sahara, or an umbrella in the rain. She was just wacked enough to make him feel at home, at the same time being everything he wasn't. Kind, considerate, smart, understanding, sweet,_ BEAUTIFUL_... the list went on and on. He just couldn't find anything wrong with the girl! No matter she had been cunning enough to fool them into thinking there actually was a ghost at the Palm Woods, and had been just devious enough to find a friend and ally in Katie. Those things just made her so much better than anyone he had ever met.

She rejoined him in the hall after they had gone. They chattered on and on all the way back to the dance floor, where Carlos had been planning to show her a signature dance move. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind of music he had been hoping for.

A slow song was playing softly out of the speakers.

From her position pressed against his right side, he felt Stephanie stiffen. He didn't want to look at her, didn't want to see the look that would be etched there. Stephanie wanted to be friends. He wouldn't ask her to dance. He wouldn't ruin the chance he had to be this girl's pal. Even if it meant they couldn't be what he wanted.

"Do you erm... ahem... You wanna get something to eat?" he muttered, almost inaudibly.

She heard him obviously, because she nodded and said, "Yeah. I saw some great looking mini-burgers over there." She pointed to the table at the far end of the room. They would have to walk around all the dancers. Carlos shifted uncomfortably.

"How bout we just get something here?" he said, going quickly to a table to their immediate left. He turned around, expecting to see her right behind him. She hadn't moved.

"No, I think I'm good actually," she said. Oddly enough, as loud as it was in there, he heard every word as clearly as if she had been right up next to him.

Man, did he wish she was right up next to him. But he didn't say that. He just shrugged and tried not to call her back as she wove her way in and out of people dancing rhythmically to some song he had never heard, and couldn't care less about.

"_Why do you do that to yourself Carlos?" _Carlos rubbed his forehead wearily. He was suddenly very tired.

Until a certain thin pale someone crashed into him from the left.

"Logan?" Carlos yelled. It sounded very loud in the sudden silence of the slow song.

"Quiet!" Logan whispered loudly. "I'm hiding from Camille..."

Carlos scratched his head. "I thought you WANTED Camille to come to the dance with you."

"I do! But some other guy challenged me to a game of hide and seek for Camille's fair hand, and whoever she finds last, gets her for the night. So I gotta hide!"

"Logan, she'll pick you anyway," Kendall said, sidling up to the punch bowl and pulling out two cups.

Logan looked relieved. "You think so? You think she won't pick him?"

"Not a chance," Kendall said, ladling a generous amount of the red liquid into each cup.

Logan breathed deeply again. "OK, then I'm gonna go find her. Hopefully she will-"

"She will!" Kendall said, pushing him towards the dance floor and dismissing him with a small wave. "Knock 'em dead, buddy!"

Logan took a small breath, and turned towards the small brunette beaming at him from the corner. Standing waiting just for him.

"At least somebody is having a good night," Carlos mumbled.

"Why aren't you out there?" Kendall asked, obviously not hearing that last statement. "Where's Stephanie?"

"She left," Carlos said. Addressing the look of alarm that crossed Kendall's face, he quickly put in, "Oh, just to get something to eat. Over there." He pointed across the room.

Kendall looked confused. "Why didn't she stay here? Or you go with her?"

"I don't know, really." Carlos sighed. "I should've, right?"

"Well, yeah! She's a total hottie, and you just let her go?" Kendall said incredulously.

"I didn't let her go!"

"Did too!"

"Taunting isn't helping right now!"

"So go find her! Ask her to dance! I dare you," Kendall said in a deadly tone.

Carlos gasped. "Well, then! Fine! I will!"

Right as the slow song ended. Carlos beamed as he ran over to Stephanie, looking dejected with a small hamburger in her hand, untouched.

"Hey, Steph!" Carlos said happily. She put down the burger, and wiped her hands on a napkin much too politely.

"Carlos," she said a little coldly.

Carlos wished he wasn't shaking so hard. "So... you know... people," he said, gesturing at all the overly happy couples going into hysterics at Disturbia being played in the background.

"Dancing," she finished for him.

"Yeah, that." He gulped. "You wanna?"

"Dance?" She looked hesitant.

"_OF course Carlos, you just had to blow it! She doesn't like you, the only reason she even asked you was because she felt sorry for you! She'll never be your friend now..._"

"Carlos, can I ask you a question?" Stephanie asked quickly not answering his proposition.

Carlos was rather surprised. "I- Um, I guess. Sure you can." He tried to sip his punch suavely, but his hand shook as he raised the cup to his lips.

"Do you like me?"

Carlos choked on his gulp. She pounded his back calmly, as if she had been expecting this. After he had righted himself, he just stared. And she stared back.

"What kind of a question is that?" Carlos demanded.

"A simple one! A yes or no one! One that I'm expecting you to answer!"

"I don't... I mean, I-"

"Don't like me," Stephanie finished for him again.

"Of course I like you, Steph! How could I not? Everyone likes you!"

"I don't mean like that," she said. Then without another word, she walked away quickly. Out of the room, past all the people, away from him.

"Stephanie, don't leave!" he shouted, gaining the attention of nearly everyone around. He caught Kendall's eye. "_Way to go, Carlitos. You blew it, yet again_," they seemed to say.

"I'm not gonna prove anything to anyone. I don't need to. I just need Stephanie." He said it out loud, not caring that people heard. His eyes were on Kendall, and he knew it didn't matter what he or anyone else thought. When your heart is screaming at you to do something, something that seems so right, something you can't survive without, you just do it.

He raced out after her. And he didn't even glance at Kendall, who had a rather large grin on his face, while Jo held his hand and asked what the heck was so funny.

"Stephanie!" he yelled. He wouldn't catch her, he didn't even know her room number! He really did blow it! What could he do? He stared around the lobby, hoping to see her long hair or her orange ribbon.

"What?" he heard a small voice say from a corner. She was sitting on one of the ottomans, her face buried in her hands.

"Steph," he said quietly, crouching down next to her, so he was just lower than eye level, looking up into her face. He pulled her hands away gently.

And was shocked to see tears spilling out of her eyes.

"Stephanie! What's wrong?" he asked, wiping her tears away in vain. Even more were cascading down her cheeks.

"I just can't get you to... to..." She sobbed loudly.

"Steph, tell me what's wrong. Please, I hate when you cry."

"You've never seen me cry before."

"Which makes it even worse!"

She choked out something that may have been a laugh on a good day. She managed a small smile through her tears, but it wasn't nearly big enough. It didn't spread light over her face, or make her eyes bright. He wished he could make her laugh some more, but the smile fell away, and it didn't come back, no matter how many jokes he told.

"What can I do? Smile for me. Tell me what's wrong!" Carlos pleaded.

"I can't! The only thing I want..." She stopped herself.

"What do you want? I'll help you get it!"

"You can't help me! You have to give it to me."

Carlos pondered for a moment. "My helmet? You can have it! I mean, I know it's not very stylish or anything..."

"It's not your helmet," she said, scrubbing her eyes. Her eyeliner smeared, but Carlos didn't care. She was still beautiful.

"Then what?"

"I want you to like me. Like, LIKE like me." She sobbed again. "But you don't."

This silenced him in a heartbeat. "You actually want me to like you? But I thought-"

"You thought wrong then! I like you a lot Carlos, and I just... I want you to..."

Carlos cupped her face in his hands, and pulled her very slowly towards him. She looked like she couldn't believe what was happening.

And as he crouched there, daring to stand slowly as he pulled her with him, he couldn't quite believe it either.

Their lips met. Gently, in a sweet kiss. Carlos didn't want to let her go. He just wanted to hold her forever.

It may have been forever, for all the part time played. When they broke it off, Carlos was smiling so wide, the very reflection of it echoed on her face. It felt so natural, Carlos couldn't believe that had been his first kiss.

He found it very hard to play it cool when they went back in to clean up after everyone. To pretend that nothing had happened. But he kept glancing over at her, craving the light in her eyes to meet his. Whenever she did, he felt like an idiot grinning so stupidly. She would smile, and press a finger to her lips. There would be plenty of time later. For everything he wanted to talk about.

Yeah, sure. "Talk".

He looked back on that day as the beginning of it all. And he knew, in years and years of contemplating, with her by his side, why he just would never want anyone else. Because there was somethin' about Steph. That made her his whole world.

**Well, there you have it. For the person who requested this, you know who you are. Yet again. XD Sorry if I didn't use any of your song choices. Unintentional, but I guess it just happened that way. Hoped you all liked it! Till the next one-shot!**

**xoxoxo**

**~Starbucks**


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